Haiti 2010: "What saves a man is to take a step. Then another step."

We have had a very crazy week full of joy and work. On the way back from church last week, we were discussing how quickly time is going...we are almost half way through and will surely miss this place. After this past week, the orphanage funding ceased and the fundraiser/owner of the orphanage has malaria, pneumonia and is in the hospital back in the states. Please pray we finish strong and for the work/money at the orphanage. The rest of the time we are here we will be building the Samaritan Purse Shelters, working with Jasmine's orphanage, finishing the upstairs and running the home. God is sovereign and we are excited about what he is doing here. We are building deeper and deeper relationships with the Haitians and growing to love them more and more. The pictures will give you an idea of what we have been up to this past week. We love you guys and miss you so much!

Anika, from our home church, came to visit her dad who has been here on and off since the earthquake with Operation Mobilization. She spent the night with us! It was great to see a familiar face.

The Haitian girls love my hair because it is so long. There was a missionary family from Costa Rica who came this past week and their daughter is on the right of me. She turned ten on Wednesday and I can't explain the joy it was to have someone I had so much in common with...favorite Jonas Brother, favorite High School Musical movie, Mac-n-cheese...it was awesome!

I got to do the roofs on the Samaritans Purse Shelters at Bethel Village this week. It was so much fun! I usually can only go to this village because it is close and I have to comeback to feed the Haitian workers at home for lunch. The volunteers always want to be on my team because it ensures them a shaded lunch break back at the house.

This is a school that meets close to Bethel Village. All the students wear uniforms and they always look so nice and clean.

Brian spent the week finishing Jasmine's all purpose room at the orphanage. This is him looking at a job well done.

Every break he took, the children were climbing allover him.

This is one of the most precious little girls from the orphanage.

I got to go over the last day and helped roof. We are standing on top.

It has rained every day this week and one day we decided to keep working in it...a dangerous mistake...tin roofs with rain...not a good idea. We had at least 2 inches of height because if the mud on our shoes. Sad note: I put my chacos in the back of the truck cause they were so muddy and they got stolen.

This is Charles. One of the coolest things we have seen in Haiti is how the Lord orchestrates relationships. Charles is the chief of police and loves the Lord very much. He does everything for us. While I am thinking about it...we were telling Charles someone took my sandals and he said we need a gun...Also, Michille told us the other day that when there is a thief or someone that hurts people in a village, they just kill them..."what Michille?!" Isn't that crazy?! That's normal Haitian culture...if you do bad things, we don't have time to correct you so we just kill you. Anyways, Charles is the man and also has probably the greatest earthquake story. You want me to tell it. Okay. He was working in a city about 2 hours from his home when the earthquake hit. He then walked home, while it was still happening, to make sure his wife and kids were okay. The walk took him all day and in response to that he said, "That is what you do when you love someone, you do anything for them. Just like Jesus does for us." Try to read that last part with a Haitian accent...it will sound a lot better.